Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler Review

Introduction:

Noctua is an Austrian company that combines industrial experience and knowledge of cooling products with scientific research in fan technology. This is a recipe for high performance cooling, but with the least amount of noise, something Noctua continues to prove possible with each new product.

Noctua's newest entry into the CPU cooling arena is the NH-U12P. It continues the design of the NH-U series. It boasts four dual heatpipes and comes bundled with a Noctua NF-P12 premium fan and Noctua NT-H1 thermal paste.

So, doesn't this heatsink look familiar? Perhaps like the Thermalright Ultra 120? That's what I first thought when I saw it, and naturally my mind wondered how they compared. They both are vertical heatsinks with four dual heatpipes, so I think it's appropriate that the Noctua NH-U12P be compared and tested against the Thermalright Ultra 120. A tough challenge? Of course!

Closer Look:

Ok, so I went to sign for the delivery and got this MASSIVE box, man it looked like Noctua had decided to use one of Shaquille O'Neal's shoeboxes! I thought, "how big IS this heatsink?!" and took a photo of the box with a standard 3.5" hard drive next to it to give you an idea of the size.

Those kind people at Noctua had made a hamster house for the NH-U12P to live in during its journey to me. Haha, joking aside though, I like how Noctua use paper/card for almost all their packaging, those inflatable plastic bags and packing peanuts annoy the hell outta me!

You can't really see much through the little window on the front of the box. You can see the fan, a few of the heatsink fins, and if you're lucky you might see a hamster! The front of the packaging bullet-points the key features, which are explained on the back of the box.

The side of the box shows a technical drawing of the heatsink and the mounting hardware. This is the first time you see what the heatsink actually looks like. The other side just has a few different language versions of the feature explanations.

Finally, on the top of the box you get all the technical specifications of the Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler and the fan.